The disclosed embodiments relate generally to print job management and, more particularly, to a system and method for controlling the printing of a copyright job in a printing system.
Printing systems, including photocopiers, electronic printers, digital copiers, telecopiers, spirit duplicators, and the like, are used to reproduce all types of documents, including documents that should not be reproduced, or whose reproduction should be limited, tracked or controlled. One common example of a potential abuse of printing system is the copying or reprinting of materials subject to copyright. Many governments have updated copyright laws, and worldwide efforts have been underway to develop a means by which authors and publishers can be fairly recompensed for such copying. Non-profit national collectives, for example the Copyright Clearance Center in the United States, also referred to as Reproduction Rights Organizations (RRO's), implement copyright licensing systems and convey royalties to the authors and publishers. The RRO's derive their authority from national legislation, contracts with the authors and publishers, and bilateral agreements with other RRO's.
Current print production copyright management solutions, such as Xerox's FreeFlow Copyright Management Solution (“FreeFlow” is a trademark used by Xerox Corporation), provide mechanisms for obtaining copyright clearances for products, such as course packs, that may require multiple clearances from multiple sources. As indicated above, this may be achieved, in many instances, by obtaining clearance from an automated system such as the Copyright Clearance Center. This clearance may grant a given print shop a license for printing an agreed upon number of copies for a cleared work. Unfortunately, a mechanism for enforcing this license to, for example, avoid production overruns might be completely absent, thus exposing print providers and their customers to possible liability for copyright infringement.
In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed embodiments there is disclosed a system for controlling printing of a print job in a printing system having a plurality of print subsystems, wherein at least a portion of the print job is subject to copyright clearance. The system includes: a controller for controlling operation of the plurality of print subsystems; a memory, communicating with said controller, for storing a first value corresponding with a first proposed number of prints to be produced with the printing system; when the first value exceeds a number for which copyright clearance is available, said controller changes the first value corresponding with the first proposed number of prints to be produced to a second value corresponding with a second proposed number of prints to be produced; and wherein said controller communicates with a copyright clearance authority and when approval is obtained from the copyright clearance authority to produce the second proposed number of prints to be produced said controller uses the second value corresponding with the second proposed number of prints to be produced to control the number of prints produced by the printing system.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed embodiments there is disclosed a system for controlling printing of a print job in a printing system having a plurality of print subsystems, wherein at least a portion of the print job is subject to copyright clearance. The system includes: a controller for controlling operation of the plurality of print subsystems; a memory, communicating with said controller, for storing a first value corresponding with a first proposed number of prints to be produced with the printing system; when the first value exceeds a number for which copyright clearance is available, said controller changes the first value corresponding with the first proposed number of prints to be produced to a second value corresponding with a second proposed number of prints to be produced; and when a selected condition is met said controller uses the second value corresponding with the second proposed number of prints to be produced to control the number of prints produced by the printing system.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed embodiments there is disclosed a method for controlling printing of a print job in a printing system having a plurality of print subsystems, wherein at least a portion of the print job is subject to copyright clearance. The method includes: controlling operation of the plurality of print subsystems with a controller; storing a first value corresponding with a first proposed number of prints to be produced with the printing system in a memory communicating with the controller; when the first value exceeds a number for which copyright clearance is available, using the controller to change the first value corresponding with the first proposed number of prints to be produced to a second value corresponding with a second proposed number of prints to be produced; and when a selected condition is met, using the second value corresponding with the second proposed number of prints to be produced to control the number of prints produced by the printing system.